For six out of the 13 summer weeks, junior Neeraj Advani would wake up at 6 a.m. and stare at the clock sitting in his North Dakota State University dorm room he called home. He would then continue his day by rushing to make breakfast, if he was on time with his early schedule. Later on, he would head to a research lab for the bulk of his day to work with university students and professors.
Not many high school students get to say they had a chance to work in an actual lab setting before leaving for college. Advani had this experience early at Governor’s School, working in the science discipline.
“It was an amazing experience because I can’t really speak for the other people in the different disciplines but for science my opportunity was working with pancreatic cancer and finding treatments for it,” Advani said. “It was an eye-opening experience.”
Canadia Braun, the science coordinator at Governor’s School, and also Advani’s eighth grade science teacher, selected Advani for the Governor’s School program.
“[I] was handed approximately 50 different applications [and] his name came across and I thought, ‘ok, well I have to do this prospectively,’ because even though I know him I know the type of student he is and how good he is at science, I had to make sure that I was doing this more anonymously than if I had already known him,” Braun said. “He ranked in like the top three percent of all of those candidates and it was like there was no question whatsoever.”
To a regular student, spending Monday through Friday working in the lab during the summer might not seem very appealing, but Advani had fun learning new information, going on educational trips and meeting new friends across the state with similar scientific interests.
Along the way, Advani also gained new leadership skills from the experience as the male team leader of science. Lonnie Hass, the director of Governor’s School, was impressed by all the student leaders.
“Somehow the leaders find inside themselves something they didn’t know existed,” Hass said. “[They] found it within themselves to learn and grow to find their leadership skill. I think that’s what [Neeraj] found.”
Advani proved to be a successful leader and kept the other students motivated as well. Braun emphasized his natural confidence and leadership ability, which helped him earn the respect of other students right away.
“He was immediately selected as a student leader,” Braun said. “[Students] really looked up to him, he was definitely one of them that he had the confidence right away coming in. [He] has a great sense of humor and personality. He had no problem whatsoever making relationships and friendships and I know he had an incredible experience.”
Advani made a positive impression on other students with his work, as well as his mentor. Braun was pleased with his research and his products which included a scientific paper, poster, power point and presentation about his research and specific experience at Governor’s School. Braun said his knowledge base increased significantly within his field of study.
“He was phenomenal. He is meant to be in science,” Braun said. “His research presentation was amazing as well so it was a huge success. He definitely became more confident in what he was doing. He’s definitely the type of student that knows when he sets his mind to it he really can accomplish anything.”